


Lucky

by Banana Boy (imbetterlive)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Ereri Secret Santa, Levi is a Creeper, M/M, Soulmates AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-09 02:01:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5521352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imbetterlive/pseuds/Banana%20Boy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Levi has never been lucky. It would be just his luck, he knew, if he was the one person who didn't have a soulmate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lucky

**Author's Note:**

> This is for my secret santa assignment, @ladycarathis on tumblr! I hope you enjoy!

Levi had never been a lucky man.

Not when he was a kid and fell into every mud puddle possible every damn time he got new shoes, not when he was a preteen and caught colds even in the peak of the summer heat, not when he was going through puberty and had the most god-awful voice cracks, and not when he graduated high school and went off to college and managed to lock himself out of his dorm once, twice, thirty times over the course of one semester. He was unlucky enough that at twenty years old, he hadn’t heard a damn thing about his soulmate.

You see, soulmates were sort of.. expected. They were just part of the regimen, part of everyday life for every normal person. Certainly there were cases of people discovering theirs late or never at all, but that was terrifying to think about for most people, and stories of such things were discussed over tea and cakes by middle-aged women in their husband’s living rooms tsking and clicking their tongues in sympathy for those poor souls. Maybe Levi was destined to be alone, he’d always thought to himself. Maybe he just didn’t have one. Maybe he was the fuck-up in the system. It only seemed appropriate after how his life had gone so far.

Soulmates were largely determined by their eyes. Once you saw your soulmate’s eyes, everyone said, it was like the world clicked into place. All of a sudden you were seeing colors that weren’t there before and everything was vivid, like life was suddenly in technicolor. Levi didn’t like that metaphor. It made him think of an old movie, grainy, one that had had its color ‘boosted’ by so-called professionals that had only ended up making it brighter and more difficult on the eyes to watch. He much preferred to think about the experience as learning how to see again. That was so poetic, he thought, and it flowed nicely on the tongue.

His luck was so bad, in fact, that after a bad fight with one of his professors he just decided ‘fuck it’ on the college front and moved away once more. He moved to New York, a sweet little place just out of the business of the main city, getting a good deal on a cute little corner apartment. The best part was, indeed, the fact that his bedroom walls were nearly entirely glass. He spent a lot of time in that bed, scrolling through his computer, reading books, writing, watching television. There was a building right beside his, the same floor, with windows covering most of the walls just like Levi. He could see right into it, and it was always empty. However, one day there was a realtor, and then two weeks later lights were on and boxes of things were being hauled up into it. He bought curtains then for no other reason than suddenly becoming hyperaware of how much time he spent naked in his apartment in front of those large windows.

The first time he opened the curtains it was early in the morning. Levi hadn’t slept yet, he’d stayed up all night watching bad television reruns and eating the enormous fucking bowl of spaghetti he’d accidentally made (how was he supposed to know you weren’t supposed to put in the whole box of noodles?). By the time the sun rose and the birds began to chirp, sunlight streaming through the inch-tall gap between the curtains and the wood floors, Levi was laying atop his bed, on the brink of succumbing to a pasta-coma. He reached out, pulling back the curtains, and was startled at what he’d seen.

Apparently his neighbor didn’t have the decency to install curtains in his own bedroom, which Levi honestly couldn’t complain about. It was a boy, maybe a year or two younger than Levi himself, tucked into a green-sheeted bed pressed against the windows. Pulling the curtains back a little more and peeking through, Levi couldn’t help but smile a tiny bit. Whoever it was, they were cute, really cute, hair flopping in their face and body splayed out like a starfish.

Ignoring the fact that he felt like a total creep, he kept watching like it was a damn reality show, tensing up whenever the boy would move or turn over or scratch at his face. It was quite endearing, those pink lips parting in what Levi assumed was a sleep-mumble. There was even a little stuffed bear, ratty and white, that Levi saw clutched to the boy’s chest when the sheets shifted. He should not have found that as cute as he did.

The boy woke at maybe seven o’clock and sat up. Levi jerked back, the curtain falling into place, laying straight on his bed, heart pounding like he was expecting the kid to come pummeling through his window calling him a stalker. Nothing happened, and he relaxed after a little while, falling asleep without a thought in his mind.

It kept happening. After a week Levi knew that Eren went to bed at any time between eleven pm to two in the morning. It depended on whether his sister came over (Levi assumed the black-haired girl was his sister, or his very close friend. She didn’t seem like a girlfriend). If she came over, or the blonde boy, he would go to bed early right after they left. Levi very much identified with the strain of being social. If no one came over, and he pulled out the cans of red bull from his fridge (Levi could see through his bedroom doorway into the kitchen) he would be up very late. On those nights Levi would give up and go to bed, setting his alarm for five thirty in the morning just so he could wake up and watch his morning entertainment, aka the boy in the apartment building beside his own.

He never really thought about how weird it was. It was just something he did. The stranger was cute, and had a cute face, and slept cutely, what was wrong with Levi appreciating it? He began to wonder what color the boy’s eyes were. He’d ducked from the window every time he began to wake up and never caught a glimpse of them, which was frustrating. The kid was attractive, certainly, and eyes could make or break a person.

Eventually Levi’s mind wandered and he wondered if the stranger had a soulmate. He was attractive, and young, and looked to be quite friendly, so he probably didn’t have one- anyone who had the chance to be around him, Levi was certain, would never give it up. He found himself almost pining after the stranger, to be completely honest, which both grossed him out and excited him.

He was completely lost in his thoughts one quiet morning, when the sky was grey and no birds were chirping. There was most certainly a storm coming, but for the meantime, it was peaceful.

He was studying the curve of Eren’s jaw, intent on figuring out how the hell it was so perfectly smooth, when his eyes moved up the bridge of his nose and he stopped cold.

Eren’s eyes were open.

Eren’s eyes were open and he was _watching_ Levi, watching Levi watch him, expression completely impassive.

Levi threw himself backwards and yanked his curtains closed, nearly toppling off his bed, terrified. Oh, Jesus. The kid was gonna call the cops and then Levi would get arrested for stalking and what the hell was he gonna tell his mom?

The next thing he thought was, wow, that boy has some beautiful fucking eyes. They were hues of blue and green, so bright it was almost like looking into the sun. Levi rubbed his forehead, and tried to calm himself down, looking at his sheets.

But, wait. Those shades of greenish-blue, much like the boy’s eyes, were those there before? He’d always thought they were grey. But now they were gorgeous, almost ethereal, and he ran his fingers over the stitching. Maybe he was so preoccupied with the stranger’s cute sleeping face that he forgot how to look at anything else.

He didn’t open his curtains again after that. He was too frightened to. He didn’t know what would be worse, not opening them at all and just leaving it as it was, or opening them and seeing that Eren himself had installed curtains. That might break his heart, to know the boy was so frightened by him that he spent money to keep Levi’s eyes off of him. The thought of it was so awful that Levi couldn’t bring himself to look.

It stormed a week later. Levi spent those days moping in bed, feeling heartbroken though he had absolutely no reason to, out of pasta from the incident a while before so instead eating chunks of bread dipped in tomato soup, the best imitation of spaghetti he could come up with without leaving his house. He just wanted to sulk all day, wallowing in his misery, ignoring his friends and feeling sorry for himself. 

The rain was hitting his windows hard and he looked out at the dark sky, grimacing. There was lightning occasionally, no thunder, but Christ, the rain was coming down like crazy.

All of a sudden his doorbell rang. He frowned, setting his laptop aside. He’d not invited anyone over, and his friends knew never to bust in on him without calling first (this had been a rule implemented after Hanji had accidentally stumbled upon him drunkenly reenacting the drawing scene from Titanic all by himself). He slowly got off of his bed, and crept towards the door, pulling it open.

There was the stranger, absolutely soaking wet, shivering like a scared dog, arms crossed over his chest. His hair was in his face and dripping everywhere but Levi could still see those eyes, and Jesus, they took his breath away. 

Shit. Shitshitshitshit. The boy was probably here to chew him out for being a total creep and staring at him.

“Can I come in?” The kid finally said, his teeth chattering, and Levi realized he’d been staring like an idiot for over a minute.

“Yeah. Yeah, come in.” He stepped away and let him inside. The stranger left water puddles all over his floor but he didn’t care, just watched him in silence.

“My name’s Eren,” Eren said when the silence became deafening. He turned to Levi, and his teeth were chattering even harder. Shit, the air conditioning was on. Levi kicked into overdrive and rushed to his linen closet, grabbing two towels and running back to Eren, wrapping him in one without thinking about it and handing him the other, immediately heading to the stove and turning on his kettle.

“Shit, I’m so sorry.” He finally said. “I’ll turn the cooling off… here, come over here, the stove’s warm from dinner, put your hands here so they don’t freeze….”

Eren stayed where he was for a moment, and gave Levi a peculiar smile. Levi froze. Oh, God, what had he done wrong? Why was Eren just looking at him?

“What’s your name?” Eren finally said. Levi’s mouth opened, then closed, then opened again. That certainly wasn’t the question he’d been expecting.

“Levi.” He responded. “My name’s Levi. Here, please let me make you tea, you could catch a cold.”

Eren finally acquiesced at that and stepped to him, accepting the hot cup of tea he was offered only a minute later, stuffed full of cream and sugar, because that’s how he looked like he liked it. Levi watched nervously as he sipped at it- should he make another cup with no cream and sugar just in case? Should he make three more cups, one with none of the above, one with only sugar, and one with only cream? He was just turning back to the stove to do so when Eren spoke up.

“It’s nice,” he said, and Levi melted even at just the simple compliment. Eren was even more handsome up close, his boyish features sweet and kind.

“Okay.” Levi sounded like an idiot, he knew he did, but he didn’t know what else to say.

“Your eyes,” Eren said, and Levi paused, confused. 

“Huh?”

“They’re grey,” he prompted.

“Yes, I… yeah.” 

“I’ve never seen grey before.” Eren’s voice was quiet, and Levi was startled at the seriousness of the statement.

“Huh?” He repeated.

“I’ve never seen grey before. Not ever. But a week ago, when you were looking at me, I saw your eyes, and now.. I can see it.”

Levi felt something in his chest, something almost hopeful. Eren couldn’t possibly mean what he thought he meant, right? Though Levi had noticed the bluish green for the first time..

“What are you saying?” He needed it to be confirmed. “I mean… I don’t even know you. I… how old are you, even?”

“I’m eighteen. I’m from Chicago. I moved up here because I was sick to death of it there. I don’t go to school, I work at my friend’s uncle’s company. It’s nice. I want to be an author. I like the color grey.”

Levi took all of this information in and wanted more. He’d been watching Eren for so long, he wanted to know more, wanted to know _everything_. 

“I’m.. Levi.” He figured he might as well reciprocate. “I’m twenty. I was in college for finance, I dropped out. I like spaghetti, and the color green. And blue,” he quickly added. “I don’t like talking to people.”

Eren just smiled at that.

“Do you like talking to me?”

“Yeah.”

There was silence for a while more, and Levi got more and more nervous as it dragged on. Eren just sipped at his tea.

“Are you my soulmate?” The question was almost pathetically asked, quiet and hopeful and frightened all at once. Levi knew his luck was awful, his luck was terrible, there was no way this sweet, kind, beautiful boy who lived beside him would ever-

“Yeah.”

Levi had to take a moment to process that. His mouth opened, closed, opened, closed, opened.

“You?”

“Uh huh.”

“But-“

“I know.”

Finally Levi just reached out and touched Eren’s arm. It was warm. He was here, he was alive, he was real. They were soulmates. He found his. He had his own, for once in his life he wasn’t the odd one out.

Eren touched his hand, and stepped closer, and Levi was shaking so hard his hands were a blur. Eren took him into his arms, held him for only a moment, and that was enough for Levi to know. This was real. It felt right, he could feel Eren’s warm breath puffing on his temple and he had absolutely no urge to pull away.

Levi Ackerman, at twenty years old, learned how to breathe again in his soulmate’s arms, and a moment later, looking into those beautiful blue-green eyes, he took his first breath.

**Author's Note:**

> :)


End file.
